Size Matters: Introduction to Nanoscience
Version 4. Last updated: November 15, 2007.

This unit provides an introduction to nanoscience, focusing on concepts related to
the size and scale, unusual properties of the nanoscale, tools of the nanosciences,
and example applications.
Upon completing this unit, students will understand:

The study of unique phenomena at the nanoscale could vastly change our
understanding of matter and lead to new questions and answers in many areas,
including health care, the environment, and technology.

There are enormous scale differences in our universe, and at different scales, different
forces dominate and different models better explain phenomena.

Nanosized materials exhibit some size-dependent effects that are not observed
in bulk materials.

New tools for observing and manipulating matter increase our ability to investigate
and innovate.

Length: 5 lessons, up to ten 50-minute classroom periods if all lessons are used. Not all lessons are required.
Use the lessons most appropriate for your students. A one-day version is also available.

Download a zip archive of the Microsoft
Word and PPT source files (52 MB) if you want to adapt the materials
under the Creative Commons license. PowerPoint [PPT] versions of the slides
are also available separately, below.